Rabbi Mortiz Duschak, known for his many historical works, officiated in Usov before 1856. Vlastimil Artur Polak, the German-Jewish poet and journalist, was born in Usov in 1914 (he died in 1990 in Olomouc). Albert Lowy from Usov went to England and became active in Jewish causes. As Secretary of the Anglo-Jewish Association in the latter half of the 1800s, he was among those arguing for Jewish nationalism, unlike many others in Czechoslovakia at that time who favored assimilation.